Elijah Wood Is a Postman in Star-Studded and Surreal Spots by Prada

The entire month of January is like one long hangover from the holidays. For this reason, it's probably apt that the first ad campaign I'm writing up this year revolves around gifts, if outside the boundaries of the season. In Prada's "The Postman's Gifts," Elijah Wood stars in a series of Autumn de Wilde-directed films that depict him offering a massive surprise package to various unwitting actresses in weird, dreamlike situations. The series is split into two parts. "The Postman's Gifts" is an elaborate way to showcase Prada's Galleria bag. And "The Postman Dreams" features various accessories. By and large, though, all the fragments have a strong Wes Anderson-meets-the-Nouvelle Vague vibe, with modern touches because these are modern times. In "The Bogey" (Hollywood vernacular for someone who breaches a set), Elijah Wood—always, at the outset, taking orders from a mysterious Italian voice on a headset—stumbles onto a bizarre shoot. He's charged with delivering a package to Emma Roberts under the watchful eye of a drone. Roberts races over to a vintage car to open her gift. One of the great pleasures of these videos is in watching the unboxing, even if we know what's inside. And Roberts, like anyone receiving a massive surprise package, more so one from Prada, is delighted to find it contains a turquoise-blue Galleria bag. [kickout id="1"] "The Troublemaker" is more of the same, except this time Wood finds himself in hot pursuit of Sasha Frolova, who encourages him to give chase with unexplained dog whistles. He finally catches up to her in an abandoned stadium, where she quite happily opens her gift. [kickout id="2"] "The Punch" features Amber Valletta, smack in the middle of confronting a boyfriend for his infidelity. Wood arrives in time to witness a climactic punch—the perfect moment, I guess, to present her with a stylin' white Galleria bag. [kickout id="3"] In the last installment of "The Postman's Gifts," titled "The Elevator," Wood struggles to deliver a package to Natalia Dyer of Stranger Things, who's trouncing around in a hotel in party clothes and a crown. He squeezes into an elevator with her and dives into his "honor to deliver" spiel, with constant interruptions from other revelers gliding in and out as the elevator goes about its business, flanked by a mechanical voice. Dyer, perhaps still high from delivering justice to Barb, accepts her own delivery with glee. It is perhaps convenient that none of these women is actually carrying a bag of her own, enabling them all to strut off with the empty Galleria in arm. (Conveniently for Wood, another man asks if he can keep the box. It is a very nice box.) [kickout id="4"] In each piece, Wood manages to be mysterious, self-deprecating and doggedly committed to his brand-assigned task. At the end of every video, he's left alone to soak in the pleasure of a job well done. "The Postman Dreams," meanwhile, focuses on accessories. While Wood is no longer present (supposedly he's dreaming all this), the music remains: "Sealed with a Kiss," brought to you by Christian Wargo. These pieces are more surreal; while the previous videos were star-studded unboxings, these zero in on the bag-stuffers. "The Sensation" features a half-asleep woman with a Galleria bag by her side, full of a hot-pink substance that vaguely reminds us of asbestos. She sticks her hand inside it to find, buried within, a yummy Prada wallet covered in pink bunnies. Like Garage Magazine's Bread Face ad, the pleasure here lies in vicariously sensing what it must feel like to stick your hand in all that powder. [kickout id="5"] "The Candy Jar" is just as grabby, and reminds us a bit of Centrepoint's "Unleash Greed." It features a woman who pretends to have an appointment with a Very Important Person, all so she can get rid of the secretary and fill her Prada drawstring bag with free Jordan Almonds. Judging by the way the secretary sighs after recovering a small glass ladle intended for easier candy transfer, this probably happens a lot. [kickout id="6"] "The Bubbles" is much weirder and takes us out of the realm of ASMR and into something more like fetish. A woman in a bathroom lifts a Prada wallet out of a soap dish and lavishly glides it through a sink filled with bubbles, blowing some off before replacing it. It is unclear why. We don't think you should treat leather this way. [kickout id="7"] Last up, a woman in "The Jacket" applies the finishing touch to a hairy coat, covered in Prada tchotchkes. The result is like a back-worn version of a charm bracelet, more expensive but just as jangly. There is a bizarre pleasure in listening to the keychain dolls tremble and tinkle as she moves, ready to share her treasure with the world. [kickout id="8"] The films were made for escapist, single-setting viewing, and to be frank it's perhaps more pleasurable to watch them thus; seeing them all like this, in an abstract pack, doesn't add much. But there's something to be said for losing a minute or two of post-holiday time to watch other people extract so much joy from opening a present, or in taking something expensive and new and using it in ways pragmatism dictates we shouldn't. Still doesn't beat Bread Face, though.

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Elijah Wood Is a Postman in Star-Studded and Surreal Spots by Prada

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Angela Natividad

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Angela Natividad